Will the Arab states be setting up a fund to pay reparations to Spain and Italy for the abduction and enslavement of Europeans 600 years ago? Or, for that matter, to blacks in the U.S. to make up for their participation in the slave trade? Will Denmark and Sweden be paying reparations to England for centuries of pillaging and murder and rapine by Vikings? "Church of England Scrambles to Defend £1 Billion for Slavery Reparations".
This is the most limp-wristed, groveling sort of virtue signaling. If I were C of E, I'd be striking my name from the parish book, instanter.
Btw, with respect to that ancestral Paco being transported from England to America as an indentured servant back in the early 18th century, I think it's the best thing that ever happened to him - certainly, it was a great boon to the rest of us (What if that hadn't happened? Seriously; picture me washing down a plate full of jellied eels with a glass of porter. Ridiculous).
Forgive me Mr. Paco sir, but I actually can picture you washing down a plate full of jellied eels with a glass of porter. Thankfully, you don't have to.
ReplyDeleteNot all slavers are created equal, Paco. It's a bit like the old saying "beauty is in the eye of the beholder".
ReplyDeleteIn this case its "good slavers are who we say they are".
Don't forget Portugal. They were a major player in the slave trade. Henry Louis Gates did a documentary in which he went to Africa. In the one part on the western coast, he visits a port from which slaves were shipped. His hostess was a local woman who walked him down the dirt road that slaves were taken to the ships. There are still holding enclosures that were dug into the dirt, so slaves could only see out at eye level. The shore was littered with the remnants of clay smoking pipes, and ceramics. It was all very poignant. He asked her, "What do you think of us (meaning Black Americans?" After a pregnant pause, she responded, "We don't".
ReplyDeleteCaution, Paco. You don't want reparations supporters screaming the difference between slave and indentured.
ReplyDeleteIndentured servitude is not talked about often. It would be interesting to do a poll to find out how many people know what it is.
Paco, how much do you know about your ancestor?
Deborah: I know very little about American Paco #1. I do know that his direct descendant fought in the Revolutionary War against the British, and was granted a parcel of land for his service. And his direct descendant fought in the Civil War on what I call "the side that came in second", and had the extraordinary bad luck to be captured in, I believe, January of 1865, dying of amoebic dysentery in the Union pow camp in Elmira, New York a couple of months later.
ReplyDelete